Glasgow Rangers interested in unwanted Daryl Murphy

Jun 4 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

GLASGOW Rangers are the latest club to express an interest in Sunderland’s unwanted striker Daryl Murphy.

The Republic of Ireland forward has been told to find a new club by Black Cats boss Steve Bruce and is coveted by a clutch of Championship clubs – as well as Rangers’ Old Firm rivals Celtic.

They are expected to make a £900,000 bid as soon as Neil Lennon is confirmed as their new boss but news of their interest has alerted Scottish champions Rangers, who are looking for a replacement for the departing Kris Boyd.

Murphy’s camp are enthusiastic about the prospect of the Celtic switch but the delay in appointing Lennon, who may not now be confirmed until early next week, has opened the door for the Ibrox side to register an interest. They join Ipswich Town, Reading and Burnley among the clubs that are tracking the Waterford-born forward.

Rangers have already had a £300,000 bid for Portsmouth striker Tommy Smith turned down, but Murphy is understood to feature on their list of wanted forwards. Although Sunderland are yet to receive a concrete offer for Murphy, it looks increasingly likely that the lightly used forward will be on his way out of the Stadium of Light before the end of the summer.

Murphy has featured for Sunderland just seven times under

Bruce – and that was largely due to the Black Cats’ injury crisis. Now, at the age of 27, he recognises that he needs to move on to progress a career that has stalled since Roy Keane’s departure.

Such is his determination to leave Wearside for regular first-team football, he is prepared to take a substantial wage cut to play for either Glasgow side.